A FORMER chef who admitted kidnapping and robbing a terrified nurse has been jailed for five years.

Sentencing Paul Beniston, Judge John Walford told him he had subjected the 59-year-old nurse to a "horrifying ordeal".

Durham Crown Court was told the 29-year-old jumped into the passenger seat of the woman's car as she left Sainsbury's at the Arnison Centre on the outskirts of Durham City late at night on November 30.

At the time, Beniston was on bail for other offences, including aggravated vehicle taking and drink-driving, which he admitted.

Lesley Kirkup, prosecuting said Beniston told the nurse to drive towards Great Lumley on a quiet back road, where he ordered her to stop and demanded money. When she produced £20 she had just withdrawn at the supermarket, he told her to drive to Chester-le-Street to find another cashpoint.

But when she stopped in the town, she managed to get help from a passer-by.

Ms Kirkup said Beniston had developed a drink problem while working as a chef at a Chester-le-Street restaurant and had returned to his Derbyshire home after taking an overdose.

The court heard the driving charges arose from an earlier incidentwhen he returned to the North-East. Following a drunken row with a female friend, he took her car and deliberately drove it into a lamppost.

Then, on November 30, he visited a number of pubs with the same woman when the couple got into a row near the Arnison Centre. A short time later, he jumped into the nurse's car.

Rachel Hedworth, mitigating, said Beniston's troubles started with his drinking problem, adding: "He is horrified by what he has done."

Beniston, of Claycross in Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to kidnap and robbery and was sentenced to four years in jail. He was given a further 12 months for the earlier driving offences.

Judge Walford told him: "You forced the 59-year-old nurse to drive while you directed her late at night on her own."

And he added that while no physical harm was done: "You subjected her to a horrifying ordeal."